"וענו ואמרו ידינו לא שפכו את הדם הזה ועינינו לא ראו"
(פרק כ"א פסוק ז)
If someone dies in between two cities and it’s unclear where the man died, the פסוק mentions that the זקנים of the closest city need to go out and announce:
"We did not kill him!"
וכי עלתה על לב שזקני בית דין שופכי דמים הם
רש"י is asking, would it even enter anyone’s mind!? Would anyone even think that the זקנים - who sit on בית דין- possibly killed him!?
What is the פסוק trying to say?
אלא לא ראינוהו ופטרנוהו בלא מזונות ובלא לויה
Of course, it doesn’t mean that they killed him physically, rather they didn’t feed him and escort him correctly out of the city.
The Alter from Kelm asks, the fact that they didn’t escort him or feed him properly makes one a שופך דם, a murderer?
He answers, by not feeding him and escorting him correctly, it takes away the כוחות הנפש for him to stand up against someone who was trying to kill him. That would make one a murderer!
BY BEING PART OF SHELA HE AND SHOWING THE YUNGERMAN OUR חשיבות, IT GIVES HIM ADDED כוחות TO CONTINUE TO GROW IN HIS עבודת הקודש!
ר' חיים בארנשטיין
